READ+ innovation teacher SK Village Petanak won silver medal at international conference

MUKAH, 12 Nov: Innovative interactive digital learning READ+ (Your Reading Buddy) created by two English teachers of National Schools (SK) Kampung Petanak, Mukah won the Silver Medal in Innovation Competition at the International Conference on Future Education (ICFE) 2026 in Klang, Selangor.

The achievement was achieved through a competition organised by the Malaysian Institute of Teacher Education (IPGM) which took place from 3 to 5 November last, involving 164 innovation projects in the open category, with 61 of them receiving Silver Medals.

READ+ was developed by Anis Afifah Shahiri and Nur Safawani Mohd Syahril as an interactive digital learning platform to improve reading skills and English proficiency among students, especially in rural schools.

A READ+ (Your Reading Buddy) platform display developed by two English teachers from SK Petanak Kampung, Mukah.

According to Nur Safawani Mohd Syahril, the idea of producing innovation stems from teaching experience when some students find themselves having difficulty reading, limited vocabulary proficiency and lack confidence in using English which is a third language for most of them.

He said READ+ allows students to access learning activities through DELIMA accounts by performing reading, listening and speaking exercises according to their level of proficiency.

"READ+ integrates game-based learning, interactive quizzes, audio, daily challenges, eye systems, achievement badges and position boards to make learning activities more exciting.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is also used to support learning analysis and monitoring of student proficiency levels, while teachers can use the Teacher Dashboard to assess progress and plan appropriate interventions", he said.

Anis Afifah Shahiri (left) and Nur Safawani Mohd Syahril when presenting the READ+ innovation.

According to him, the platform also allows teachers to share reports of students' activities and achievements directly with parents to ensure that learning progress can be continuously monitored, including at home.

Commenting on the students' reception, he said that the feedback received was very encouraging when students showed greater interest in participating in reading activities and were more daring to try and complete the training themselves.

He said that among the positive changes observed were students who had previously been less confident about reading in English starting to venture out, as well as being encouraged to repeat training to improve achievement through a digital reward system.

"For us, increasing interest in reading, confidence and willingness to read is a very meaningful impact", she said.

In the meantime, he hopes that READ+ can be extended to other schools to help more students improve their English language proficiency through an interactive and fun digital learning approach.

"For us, the success of READ+ is not only a medal winner, but it proves that rural school teachers are also capable of producing internationally recognized educational innovations", he said. - TVS